Who? What? Where? When? How?

Friends and family,

I’ve decided to writing about my year in Germany for a couple of reasons. I want to be able to look back a year from now and remember the little things. I also want keep everyone somewhat updated on my life, if they care to know. So that when I return, I won’t have to meet the question “So how was Germany?” with a blank stare. And lastly, because multiple friends have suggested/demanded that I blog. It was also suggested that I limit my use of Facebook and contact with home. I see the benefit in this, especially for the first month or so. I’ll definitely still be using Facebook and such but I feel like this is a more in-depth way of sharing my time studying abroad.

I’ve been asked by a lot of people why I chose to study abroad, and why I chose Germany. This requires a little explanation of myself and the program I’m going with.

While I’ve been blessed with opportunities to travel to a couple other countries, I have always been a visitor. I’ve loved travelling and experiencing new places, peoples, and ideas. Other cultures genuinely excite me, and that is why I want to be more than a tourist. I wanted to be fully immersed in another language, experiencing another culture firsthand. I feel like this is another kind of learning, a whole different kind of education that is far more enriching. I’ve wanted to be an exchange student since high school. However, this wasn’t a reality for me. I didn’t know how to get involved in a program, and I was afraid of the financial aspect. I imagined such an opportunity would be far out of my reach. I really regret not pursuing that, though. During my senior year of high school I became close with two exchange students to my high school. Watching them grow while experiencing Alaska was really exciting and I loved being able to share my life with them. The Danish girl was especially inspirational, with her open-minded attitude and the way she completely embraced life. I thought to myself, I could do that. I would make a good exchange student. As my friends went back home and other friends prepared to start their exchange/gap years across the world, I knew that this was a desire that wouldn’t just go away.

One of the reasons I chose to attend University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau was because of their numerous exchange/study abroad options. They really have a program for everyone. I was so excited to learn of the different options and that I would be able to make my dream a reality. I think I made an appointment with our study abroad coordinator in the second or third week of school, haha, I was just so excited. The program I’m going with, ISEP (International Student Exchange Program), has two different options. I chose to do an ISEP Exchange, which means that I’m paying the cost of attending UAS for one year to study in Germany. Which is freaking sweet! This means I can use all of my financial aid and scholarships, so my exchange is very affordable.

“Why Germany?” is a question I’m asked nearly every time someone learns I’m going. Many of you know that an important person in my life happens to live in Germany, but I can PROMISE you, he played a pretty small part in my decision to study abroad, I didn’t do this just to be closer to him.

 And the thing is, I didn’t really choose Germany. I mean, I did. But not really. The way ISEP Exchange works is that you turn in an application that applies to up to 10 universities. Because I’m doing the Exchange option, different universities are ranked according to the chance that I’ll get in. The universities can only accept students based on the number they sent out. Some are “excellent”, others are “fair” or “very good”. I spent a long time trying to figure out where I want to go; ISEP has so many different host sites! I knew I wanted to go to Europe. Like I told my coordinator, I honestly didn’t care where I went as long as I did, in fact, go. I was just so hungry for a new experience, and I honestly would’ve been fine for if she’d picked a random country and assigned it to me. That actually would’ve been a lot easier, haha. I also knew that I didn’t want to study in a country whose first language was English. I really wanted to learn a new language or at least put my 4 years of French to good use. I wanted to be challenged to learn another language and use it every day.

Unfortunately, the French universities required at least 4 semesters of university-level French, and I would only have 2 by the time I went. I really had my heart set on going to La Reunion, a small French-speaking island by Africa, but I didn’t have enough French. Some universities required students to be a junior during their study abroad year, and I wanted to go as a sophomore for degree requirements purposes. In fact, I didn’t think Germany was an option at all: I looked at the universities I was interested in and all of them either required 2 years of German or a junior-level standing. So Germany was out, or so I thought. In the end, I’d narrowed it down to universities in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Bulgaria. I purposely chose countries with challenging languages. I could’ve listed more, but these were the countries I felt passionate about going to. The university in Bulgaria is actually an American university and the classes there are all taught in English, so I thought that might be the best choice academically. However, the Netherlands excited me most.

I’m not sure why I looked at the German universities again, but I did, and stumbled across Universität Bielefeld in Bielefeld, Germany. It had an “excellent” chance of placement and offered English literature classes taught in English (which is what I need to take), along with German classes and a month-long orientation for international students. I also read that exchange students are partnered with mentors and that there are excursions, parties, etc with the International Office. Basically, everything I’d wanted and in a country I was interested in! And it was only an hour away from Hannover, where I’d visited over Christmas. It was seriously the most random finding, and I’d discovered it only days before my application was due. The one downside was that the university preferred juniors. I decided to just go for it. If I wanted to try to go there at all, I had to put it first on my list of preferences because I wasn’t a junior, and I figured if there was an “excellent” chance of placement, maybe they would consider me.

The process is a little complex: ISEP receives your application, and if they accept you, place you and forward your application to the university they choose that they feel will meet your academic needs and interests. The university then has to accept you. ISEP goes down your list of chosen universities until you’re accepted. So my Germany hopes could’ve been squashed right there if they had decided that this wasn’t a good fit. The waiting period wasn’t long at all, but it felt much longer than just a month or two! I honestly didn’t think I would be going to Germany. I actually started to get really excited for Bulgaria! I was thinking to myself, “Well nobody I know has ever been there, I’d probably have no reason to ever go there, why not?!” I really thought I would be going to Bulgaria, it seemed to match my needs and interests well and I would still be challenged . So when I got the e-mail from my coordinator saying I was placed in and accepted to Bielefeld, I was beside myself. It had been the longest shot, and that was why I’d had to rank it first. I couldn’t believe that I’d gotten my first choice, Germany!! My coordinator told me later that the German coordinator had actually called her and talked to her about me before accepting me, it was that close.

I know not all of you reading this share my Christian faith, but I can’t write about an entire year of my life and not talk about my God. I’m excited to see how God uses me and grows me. I do want to be a light, wherever I am.

So, here I am. I’m so excited for this next year! I’m a little nervous because I don’t speak any German at all (although I’m working on that a little this summer), but I’m not afraid. I am so excited to travel and meet new people from all over the world and have my horizons broadened. I look forward to the challenges Germany presents. Like I said, I’m excited to see what God does, but I’m just as excited for the other typical exchange student experiences: new friends, new classes, new places to travel, NEW FOOD, living in another culture, a new language, shopping, a new legal drinking age…the list goes on.

While I can’t even imagine what is to come, this is the year I’ve been waiting so long for. I believe it will be totally different from every other year of my life. I have never blogged before and I really will try to commit to it. This blog is in 2 places, mostly because I couldn’t figure Blogger out and then actually locked myself out… so I went with the second recommendation, a Tumblr account. Tumblr seems kind of fun but I’m pretty sure I’m using it wrong. If I decide that I like more one than the other, I might start to use just that one. For now, it’s in two places, http://brittleetogermany.tumblr.com/ and http://brittleetogermany.blogspot.com/

Off to adventure!

P.S. This song kind of perfectly matches my feelings right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_7iOuCZNj0